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Solar pump promises higher crop yields in power-hungry Bangladesh

by AlertNet correspondent | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 12 April 2010 10:21 GMT

By Syful Islam

DHAKA (AlertNet) - Farmers in Bangladesh's northern Naogaon district are anticipating higher yields thanks to a solar-powered pump that will irrigate around 50 acres of land in area that previously had no access to electricity.

In Ashrand village, scarce water and a lack of power meant farmers could harvest only one crop a year from their land. They hope the new solar pump will make their fields more productive.

"The area where our lands are situated is a little bit higher than the lowlands, so getting water here is very tough other than in the rainy season," explains Alauddin Mahalat, president of the local farmers' group.

"There was no pump in this area, not even a diesel-run pump, so we had no choice but to produce one crop and to wait for the rainy season to cultivate our lands."

Only around half of Bangladesh's population receive government power supplies, and in rural areas that do have access to grid electricity, frequent and prolonged power cuts are common due to the wide gap between supply and demand.

This is a key reason why renewable energy is becoming popular very fast, particularly among rural communities where solar, wind and biogas are the only source of power.

In Ashrand, farmers are now looking to harvest two rice crops and one vegetable crop annually, says Mahalat, who also teaches agriculture at a local madrasa, or religious school.

"We will be able to get two to three crops a year from our lands with irrigation from the pump," says the father of two sons who also runs a fish-farming business and will soon receive training in vegetable growing in India.

Fazlur Rahman is one of the village's richer farmers with children in secondary and higher education. He hopes irrigation from the pump will enable his three acres of land to produce up to 12 tonnes of rice a year as well as vegetables.

MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE

The pump and the village's new solar system - which has a capacity of 11.2 kilowatts - have been set up by Grameen Shakti, a non-profit company that is pioneering the provision of renewable energy to rural Bangladeshis through micro-finance. It has so far installed 326,500 solar home systems with a monthly installation rate of 12,000 panels

At present the pump lifts 400,000 litres of water each day from 100 metres below ground, which will increase to 500,000 litres during longer summer days. It allows farmers to irrigate their lands for a reasonable price.

"We have plans to set up 10 pumps across the country where farmers can't cultivate their lands due to lack of water and there is no electricity coverage," says M. A. Gofran, a biogas consultant who works for Grameen Shakti.

Grameen Shakti, which was established in 1996 and has won two Ashden Awards for sustainable energy, also plans to introduce a drip irrigation system that will prevent wastage of water.

In Bangladesh's coastal belt, which is vulnerable to extreme weather and rising sea levels, the organisation is working to introduce a solar drier for fish, which will help fishermen work more efficiently. And in areas devastated by Cyclone Sidr in 2007, it has distributed 15,000 improved cooking stoves.

Gofran says the organisation is ready to launch a mini solar-power grid that will provide electricity to 100 households affected by river erosion in Mankganj district, some 65 kilometres from the capital city of Dhaka.

The clean energy specialist notes that Grameen Shakti's work is supporting low-carbon development in Bangladesh by offering alternatives to the use of fossil fuels, which produce carbon dioxide when burned. "Our solar and biogas projects are helping offset climate change," he says.

Syful Islam is a senior reporter with the New Nation newspaper in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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